In Tuesday’s (10/1) New York Times, Michael Cooper reports, “It is curtains for New York City Opera. The 70-year-old company, long an important part of the city’s cultural firmament, announced on Tuesday morning that its emergency fund-raising appeal had fallen short, and would begin the process of dissolving itself and filing for bankruptcy. ‘New York City Opera did not achieve the goal of its emergency appeal,’ Risa B. Heller, a spokeswoman for the company, said in a statement. ‘Today, the board and management will begin the necessary financial and operational steps to wind down the company including initiating the Chapter 11 process.’ … Its first performance, of Puccini’s Tosca, was given in 1944.… Tino Gagliardi, the president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, which represents the orchestra, noted that the ‘musicians made great sacrifices in wages and benefits to keep the City Opera afloat.’ The musicians were once guaranteed a weekly salary of 29 weeks a year, but in recent years have been paid instead by the rehearsal and performance. The musicians had protested the move from Lincoln Center and the decisions to cut back the number of performances each year, which the company said was essential to survive.”
Posted October 1, 2013
